Thursday, May 26, 2016

Royal Society calls for review of European GM ban



bbcnews |  In a statement, the Soil Association said it believed that the Royal Society guide was neither neutral nor unbiased as it claims.

"Everyone knows that there are at least some scientific controversies, and disagreements about evidence concerning GM crops. None of these are mentioned in the Royal Society document," the statement read.

"This may not be surprising, given that there are no scientists who have consistently expressed scepticism about the application of GM technology to agriculture listed among the authors.

"Scientific enquiry normally proceeds by open discussion of disagreements about evidence - the Royal Society's involvement in GM has been consistently one-sided, ignoring scientists with dissenting views, and overlooking facts which do not fit with the views of supporters of GM crops."

An analysis of 900 pieces of published research into GM technology by the US National Academy of Sciences concluded that GM food was safe to eat - though it did highlight some environmental concerns.

Prof Ramakrishnan said he recognised that the answers in the Royal Society guide would not end the controversy.

"But we hope that they will inform people about the science and allow those who might previously have felt excluded from the discussion to form a view," he said.

The Royal Society will hold a series of public panel discussion events (Growing tomorrow's dinner - should GM be on the table?) across the UK during the summer and autumn.

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